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The co-founder of the shady opposition research firm behind the infamous Russian dossier on President Donald Trump is refusing to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee next week, according to Politico.

Now there's speculation that the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Charles Grassley, might subpoena him.

The unverified dossier claimed that Trump and Russia colluded to torpedo Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign and included salacious details that have been widely debunked.

During the 2016 campaign, Simpson’s firm hired the British spy Christopher Steele, who ultimately produced the infamous dossier, which suggests Trump took part in an intricate Kremlin-backed plot to ascend to the White House. He and the White House have strenuously denied the allegations in the document.

The decision by Grassley to call Simpson to speak publicly is one of the riskiest moves in Congress’ 6-month-old probes into Russian meddling in the presidential election. And it amounts to a decision to rip the bandage off an investigation that has at times crawled along slowly.

"I think we need to find out what the facts are and let the chips fall where they may," said Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas), a member of the Judiciary Committee.

The committee called Simpson — who helped establish Fusion GPS in 2009 — to testify during a larger hearing about the role of foreign lobbying.

Simpson joins CrowdStrike and Susan Rice, two other RussiaGate players who have resisted efforts to appear before Congress.

CrowdStrike, based in Irvine, California, is also the only group that the DNC allowed to directly examine its servers. Not even the FBI has been granted access to the servers.

U.S. agencies have instead relied on CrowdStrike's work. There is no other known forensic evidence which has been publicly disclosed to link the Kremlin to the attacks, including in a series of intelligence community statements and reports.

Questions have since emerged about the reliability of the company's findings.

Susan Rice, Barack Obama's longtime national security adviser, declined back in May to testify before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism about Russian activities during the 2016 election campaign. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) who had requested that Rice appear, has been particularly curious about her unmasking activities during the campaign. At the end of June Rice finally agreed to testify before the House Intelligence Committee in a closed hearing which will be held sometime before the August recess.